Finding a place this fall to store hunting weapons on campus is fairly simple.

CMU Police provides on-campus students with a safe option for weapon storage.

“For any students that reside on campus, we have a service that allows weapons for hunting or target shooting to be brought directly here and stored here in our secure blocker,” said Capt. Fred Harris.

Harris said not many students use the service — CMU Police had two or three last year.

“They just have to fill out some paperwork and then we attach a card to the weapons,” he said. “When we release them, students just have to leave campus. They can’t take them back to their residential housing units.”

Harris said the weapon storage keeps everyone safe.

“We provide this service to allow students to keep their weapons in a place that is secure rather than keep them in their trunks or housing units,” Harris said. “This can make sure that they won’t be violating university policy.”

Harris said weapons are not allowed in the residence halls.

Hunting land

Students seeking to hunt deer on public land when firearm season opens Sunday will have to travel to the edge of Isabella County and beyond.

According to the Department of Natural Resources, the closest public hunting land is the Edmore State Game Area bordering Isabella and Montcalm counties. After that, hunters will have to travel out of county to find public hunting land.

While State Game and State Forest land is sparse in the area, hunting on private land may give hunters better results.

Isabella County Undersheriff Laude Hartrum said people hunting on private land need to make sure to follow the proper procedures.

“When people go out to hunt on private land, they need to have a note from the property owner that states that they have permission to hunt on that property,” Hartrum said. “They have to carry that note with them the whole time when they’re hunting.”

E-mail the author: Luke Dimick